Our Mission

To inspire recovery and wellness through professional development and continuing education, in order to equip emerging leaders and strengthen the peer and family support workforce.

Vision

The Academy was built from the collaborative efforts of peers and family members who receive behavioral health services, advocate for policies that impact mental health, and/or provide behavioral health services within Arizona’s integrated healthcare system. With a vision to increase access to evidence based, high quality peer support and family support services, the Academy is the only statewide entity invested in workforce development efforts with a primary focus on continuing education of credentialed peer and family support professionals.

Focus

The Academy increases access to evidence-based peer-to-peer and family-to-family programs to help people with mental health and/or substance use related needs achieve whole person wellness goals. This is done through the following:

1) offering professional development and advanced level training to peer and family support professionals;

2) providing support and peer-to-peer networking opportunities for industry professionals; and

3) working with social service delivery systems and healthcare provider organizations to expand the use of peer and family support services into non-traditional settings.